Still or retort.



s. E. KELSE Y. STILL 0R RBTOIFT. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9, 1913.

1,092,366. Patented Apr.7,1914.

WIT/V5885 IN VEN TOR ATTORNEY the still.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIDNEY E. KELSEY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

' sTrLL on nu'ronr.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. '7, 1914.

Application filed September 9, 1913. Serial No. 788,792.

To all whomiit may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY E. KELSEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stills or Betorts; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in' the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to stills or retorts, and more particularly to a device of that character wherein compounds, such as are contained in'petroleum and coal distillates, maybe distilled, cracked, or broken up into lighter molecules, and from which the resultant products may be drawn; the principal object of the invention being to provide a still or retort wherein the compounds to be acted upon are caused to flow through a more refractory, heated fluid, and over suitable baflles, in order to break their more complex molecules, and vaporize or gasefy the molecules during their travel through In accomplishing this object I provide a still comprising a casing of refractory material containing a mass of less refractory material, such as mercury, lead, zinc, glass, or other element, compound, or mixture, and heat the casing to such a degree that the interior mass is liquid and at .a temperature above the boiling point of the most volatile compound to be treated. I then conduct the compound or mixture of compounds to be treated to near the bottom of the mass within the casing and deliver same into the mass, so that it may rise therethrough or mix therewith and some of it be broken up and become vaporized or gasefied during its upward travel; suitable baffles being placed within the casing to retard somewhat the up ward flow and to provide additional heating surfaces. 7

The preferred form of structure embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, to which reference will be made by reference numerals, and wherein a still comprising the improvements is illustrated in vertical section.

Referring more in detail to the draw ingz-l designates a furnace having an upper opening 2 and comprising a burner 5, of

any suitable type. Projected downwardly through the opening 2 to near the bottom of the furnace is a casing or shell 4; the upper portion ofwhich extends above the top of the furnace, and has pipes 6 and '7 opening thereinto at different elevations; the pipe 6 being provided with a check valve 8 and the pipe 7 with a manually controlled valve 9, for-the purposes presently set forth.

Opening through the top of the casing and mounted on the upper head 11, preferably by means of screw threads 12, is a pipe 13 which extends down; "dly to near the lower head 14:, so that it in deliver material into the lower portion oi the casing, the

upper end of the pipe being cor "noted with a suitable pump 15, or other pressure device, and equipped with a check valve 16 to pre vent back flow from the casing to the pump.

The casing is partially filled, preferably to the level of the top of the furnace, with a refractory mass 17, such as mercury, lead. zinc, or the like, having a fusing point be low that of the casing; and contained within saidmass, and Within the casing above the top of the mass, are baffles 18, preferably consisting of metal turnings, filings, or the like, of a more refractory material than the mass 17 so that they will not fuse therewith, which are so shaped, regularly or irregularly, as to make the ratio of heating surface to Volume the largest practicable, and which are preferably loose within the casmg. 7

The check valve 8 on the upper pipe 6 comprises a spring 20, which is adapted to yield and allow the valve to unseat when pressure of vapor within the casing is sufiicient to overcome the tension of the spring.

In using the retort or still, presuming the parts to be constructed and assembled as described, the furnace is operated to heat the casing and the mass of less refractory material and baflles'contained therein. The material to be acted upon is then injected through the pipe 13 and delivered into the liquid massin the bottom of the still. When the material leaves the lower end of the pipe, it ascends through the denser mass and around and between the baflles 18, the more volatile compounds of the material or fluid being vaporized more quicklythan the less volatile compounds, so th they rise to the surface more quickly than he latter; some of the molecules cf the ma rial being broken into molecules of lighter weight during the upwardtravel of the material extend downward asfar as" desired,' the} I through the refractory mass. After passbuoyant' efiect of the liquid massbeing r'e ing through the refractory mass, vapors and sisted by, tl1'e' downward pressure of the. I

gases of the material pass out through pipe upper stlll head.

6 6, and the residue is drawn off through pipe Having thus described Imyv invention," I

7 or both ma be drawn oft through the what-Iclaim a'snewthereimand desiretosamepipe an that portion. of the liquid secure by Letters Patent, 1 j which has not been brought ,to the proper 1. A still or retortcomprising a shell hav-; boilin point may be again passed through 'ing an outlet port in its upper ortion,'a

10 the Stlll, or through one or more similar mass of refractory mate ial n uid state s stills which maybe heated to higher'degrees contained within the lower portion of the in order to reduce the heavier molecules. shell, means for conducting material to be During the operation of the still or retort,. treated into said mass, and floating baflle's the baflies serve to increase the heating surcontained within the shell and immersed in 115 face within the still, without necessitating said mass. I

contact otthe material to be treated with 2. A still or retort comprising a shell, a the walls of the lower part of the casing or mass of refractory material in fluid state shell,, so that the latter maybe heated toa' partially filling said shell, baffles contained degreewhich otherwise might be destructive within tlte shell, within and above said 20 to the material, but which, because of the. mass, means for conducting material to be 55 present arrangement, may be heated to a treated into said mass, and exhaust pipes temperature that Will lnsure the maint'ecommunicating with. the interior "of said nance of the required high temperature of shell at difii'erent elevations. the liquid mass 17 and of the bafiles 18. The 3. A still or retort-comprising a shell hav- 25 battles, and particularly those located above ing an outlet port, a mass of refractory ma-' 60' the level of the mass 17, also serve'to retard terial inv fluid state contained ;within the and prevent the escape of the non-volatihzedlower portion of the shell, 'baflles contained portions of the material being treated with within -thefshell, and means for; conducting the vapors and gases through the pipe 6. material to be treated, into saidmass I In case the density of the material com-- In testimony whereof I aflix'my signature to posing the liquid bath exceeds the density in p e f t it y of the material composing the baflies, some SIDNEY E. K'ELSEY. of the bafiies are forced beneath the surface Wit s of the liquid by the weight of the batfies-not ARTHUR W. Cars, 35 submerged; but the baffles may be made to L, E. COATS. 

